My daughter has been walking around going, "Hey Mister, you're fired" in this weird New Jersey accent. We're unsure of where both the accent and the phrase came from as we are fairly certain she hasn't been watching The Apprentice. Here are some Mister songs, many I have posted before, but still.

Optigonally Yours, "Mr. Wilson"
Such a good song for the kids, this is one of Rob Crow's previous bands.

Asylum Street Spankers, "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch"
A great cover of a great song, no matter the season. FYI, the Spankers are holding a contest, asking fans to create a video for their latest CD. Winner takes a $1000.

The Kinks, "Mr. Songbird"
One of my favorite bands, ever. Top 5 for sure. You can't beat this jolly upbeat 2 and a half minutes of sweetness.

The Mr. T Experience, "Spiderman"
Now is the time to take another look at this 80s era punk band since singer Frank Portman has written the best "young adult" book of 2006, King Dork. (Oh crap, one of my favorite books, young adult or not, I highly recommend!)

Styx, "Mr. Roboto"
Domo arigato. My heart is human, my blood is boiling, my brain IBM. Man they makes me giggle.

Greetings.

My daughter has become obsessed with Egypt. We're not sure where it started, but I thought I would feed it so recently I taped hours upon hours of Travel Channel Egypt specials and she can't get enough of it. She actually said, "I could watch this all day" and if you know my daughter that's saying something-- she's not a big TV kid. Lounging in front of the TV for her - thankfully - is reserved for when you feel sick. But the Sphinx and King Tut and dead people, it's all just too fascinating. ("It's just so intsteresting" she says.) So what does an intelligent Mom do when faced with such an interest? Probably get her a good book. What I did, not being the most intelligent Mom on the block, is get her hooked on this cheesy song.

The Bangles, "Walk Like An Egyptian"

I wrote about the band The Bicycles and posted one of their fabulous songs before. Here's another. Their CD, The Good, The Bad, And the Cuddly is fun stuff. This is adorable pop from Toronto. I read an article that compared them to comic bands of my youth (like Josie and the Pussycats or the Banana Splits) and I say hooray!

The Bicycles, "B-B-B-Bicycles"

Belle and Sebastian put together that collection of hipster bands doing kid songs at the end of last year called Colours Are Brighter complete with the Brit spelling of Colours, which I love. In fact, I like the spelling of Colours better than I like this song. But hey, it's not awful, it's just that I had higher expectations. The chorus is enjoyable, but the rest of it has a Saturday morning PBS pre-school gloss I could do without. But hey that's just me.

Belle and Sebastian, "The Monkeys Are Breaking Out The Zoo"

Finally, I know this is mildly inappropriate, but what kid doesn't like a good song about Poo? I had never ever watched Scrubs until, ironically, I was in the hospital getting that tomato taken out of my chest. It's in syndication rounds like mad and you can see it at any time of the day on any number of channels and there I sat in my hospital bed watching it and you know, I found it surprisingly funny. My husband thinks it was the juxtaposition of being in the grimy hospital myself while watching a surreal and sanitized version that made me laugh so and perhaps he was right but now, on occasion, when I find myself up at night, I watch it. And I laugh. So, we taped the "musical" episode and there it was: a song about poo. And here it is for you and yours.

Zach Braff & Donald Faison (from Scrubs), "Everything Comes Down to Poo"

Yes, that's Old School for those of you who need the translator.

We were turned on to this DVD during a playdate. If you have Netflix and any interest in breakdancing, I definitely recommend it. Graffiti Rock was made in 1984 as a hip-hop sort of Soul Train. It features Run DMC and Kool Moe Dee, a song from some singer named Shannon, who just is WAY too much. And for us parents of a certain age, the outfits and the dancing will spark a, um, fond memory or two. Not that I'm saying I ever dressed in day-glo anything or danced at all, let alone like THAT! But it's a kick.

The best part for the littles is the break dancing. The crew is called the New York City breakers. We watched this thing about a thousand times. Max knows all the guys names and did a lot of work learning to dance. The NYCB was one of the featured crews in "Beat Street", if you remember that movie at all. And even though it was made for cable, hip-hop in the 80's was pretty kid-friendly. At least what they showed on this show... So check it.



--deb in sf

Many of you have probably come across this Little Monster record label (a subsidiary of the rumored-to-be money-troubled V2) if you traverse Stefan's Zooglobble or Amy's Mrs. Davis sites. They have a roster that is already a handful of artists deep, including the weird and not entirely pleasing to me "house band" of sorts that did that Beatles cover record, albeit with some mighty fine guest stars (Bangles, Rachel Yamagata, Marshall Crenshaw, Grandaddy.) Anywho, they also have the upcoming children's CD from jazz modernists Medeski, Martin & Wood and what do you know, I dig the first song they've posted quite a bit, the second is alright. The first is just a stop-start instrumental with a kid wondering out loud where the music has gone. And the latter is a conventional kids tune, although it does have a slight Shel Silverstein-esque story about pirates to offer us. It's enjoyable enough, and it's download-able on their site and well, here, below.

Medeski, Martin & Wood, "Where's the Music?"
Medeski, Martin & Wood, "Pirates Don't Take Baths"

Also download-able on their site: two Robbert Bobbert songs (that's Robert Schnieder of Apples of in Stereo), a few of those Beatles covers (see for yourself, tell me what you think), a few soul covers by I assume the same house band (and it's regrettable if you ask me) and something by the mysterious Ralph & Ralph. I can only hope it's Ralph Stanley and well, Ralph Stanley. Wait, is he dead? Oh, lastly there is the loopy Gustafer Yellowson, which I believe is more a full-scale visual and aural assault when on tour, but the music ain't bad. I'm definitely curious enough...

Medeski, Martin & Wood CD is due in April, as is the Gustafer Y DVD.

I thought about giving it all up. Chalk it up to a heaping helping of burn out, mixed with a heavy dose of the holidays and a whole lotta actual real live and mostly paying work. I still cannot see myself posting here like I did last year, which was at least 4 days a week, if not more. But like beer, I just can't seem to give it up. Here are some things I've been doing or digging over the last few weeks:

* I heart Mark Ronson. It's true, he's often seen with trampy looking women or dressed in clothes that are probably more expensive that my mortgage payment yet look like they came from a thrift store, but... I... as of late last year, well I heart him. There was his cover of Radiohead's "Just" (featuring Alex Greenwald) and his remix of Lily Allen's Smile with the awesome song snippet from Bobby and Jimmy Purify's "I'm Your Puppet" (but that has some frank language, to put it nicely, right up front, so don't play that one for the kiddles) and now Ronson's getting ready to release an album of covers in April. You can go to his MySpace page and stream his lush and fantastically fun horn version of Coldplay's "God Put A Smile." And below, you can hear his take on Brit's "Toxic" which you may find questionable for the littlest ones seeing what the song is about but damn, I love it and it's certainly ok for the older kids who may have at some time or another, been Britney fans. Maybe if I get to it, I'll rip the Coldplay track and post that. And did you know his step dad is Mick Jones from Foreigner??!!

Mark Ronson, "Toxic"

* There are a couple of old songs that inexplicably cause me to cry. Many of my old friends find this hilarious and enjoy blindsiding me with one of these tunes. Yes, Barry Manilow's "Mandy" falls into this category. And so does Elton John's "Tiny Dancer." Now with my daughter dancing around sweetly (but dramatically) to it, it lends a whole 'nother dimension to the tears.

Elton John, "Tiny Dancer"

I pretty much think the Swedish band, I'm From Barcelona and their CD Let Me Introduce My Friends, is great listening for the whole family. There are a ton of handclaps (which is this year's new black.) But also some fun layered vocals, happy rhythms and such. That's their picture I put up at top of this here post. Check it,

I'm From Barcelona, "This Boy"

Our whole family digs Apples in Stereo. The new CD, New Magnetic Wonder comes out next month. Below, you'll find a track from it. If you haven't yet seen Robert Schnieder on the Colbert Report as part of the Decemberists Vs. Colbert Guitarmageddon, you should. His ode to Stephen is terrific and even my daughter giggled lots. And Schneider plays children's music under the name Robert Bobbert & The Bubble Machine. You can check out a couple of those tracks on "Bobbert's" My Space Page.

Apples In Stereo, "Same Old Drag"

* I even played my daughter some Joanna Newsom over the holidays. I thought, like most people's reactions to the high-pitched harp player's voice, she would either love it or hate. I was right, sort of. At first she thought it was so pretty and delicate and she began to dance around on her tippy toes and flutter her fingers. But after a minute of that she declared it "terrible." Ha ha. Moving on. Josh Ritter is on Letterman tonight, and the Islands are on Craig Ferguson. Looking forward to both of those. Heard Islands yet? This song is lovely, it has a little Built to Spill-ness to it with the "Lost in a Supermarket" melody running through it. Not intensely original perhaps, but enjoyable. My daughter doesn't ask for this one, but she doesn't object either when it comes on the stereo (and trust me, she objects to a whole lot a what comes on the stereo.)

Islands, "Rough Gem"

* I sold a new book, to Delacorte. It's called 30 Days To Getting Over the Dork You USED To Call a Boyfriend. It's for teens and is chock full of song references and posi activities masquerading as girly silliness. I've started a blog for it (I had to, didn't I?) that is featuring a break-up song of some sort every week day or so (you know me, I'm never consistent.) I've just started so there are only a couple handful of tunes up, but since the book doesn't come out for some time (we're editing now!) I've got time to post tons.

GettingOverTheDork.com


That's it for now and probably for a little while. But perhaps we coax back our other posters to joining in the fun. Here's to a swell and happy new year.